concern with a myofunctional exercise

[treevernal]

So I've been seeing an orofacial myologist as part of my total treatment and things are going well.  She has me do several exercises with my tongue and also how to eat/drink properly and keeping my mouth closed.

For one exercise, before bed, she has me curl my upper and lower lips around my teeth while placing my hands on my clavicles, and tilting my head back (supported) to get a "platysmal" stretch.  This is supposed to help correct my lip incompetence and allow me to keep my mouth closed easier.  After doing this 5 times for 20 secs each, I then tape my mouth shut in a criss-cross pattern using special medical tape and I can then sleep with my mouth shut which alleviates snoring, dry-mouth, and mouth-breathing at night.

This works very well for keeping my mouth shut and moist and I can sleep comfortably, but I have some concerns.  First, will stretching my lips cause my upper lip to lengthen?  I do not want this to happen, esp since its not a short upper lip I have but rather a long anterior maxilla (which will be fixed via surgery).  Also, as I do these exercises before surgery, I fear the soft tissue planning for surgery will be based off of these newly "stretched together" lips and once I stop doing these exercises post-healing, my lips will revert back to where they were and ill have lip incompetence once again. 

Lately I've only been curling my lower lip (for the stretches) around my teeth prior to taping because of this concern. 

What do you think?  Are my concerns legitimate?  Is what I wrote clear?

[Marisama]

my tongue seems to more naturally hit behind my teeth and top palate

That's exactly what I want to hear!

[Kristen]

My son has been doing the taping up at bedtime and exercises for a year now.   It hasn't made his upper lip any longer but it has helped him to nose breathe through the night where as without it he will hang mouth open and mouth breath.   I highly recommend the exercises.   It has made him aware of proper tongue placement and importance of keeping lips sealed.   This is not a natural or easy thing to do but after the jaw surgery it will be hopefully and he will have the tools to help him maintain correct oral posture.

[treevernal]

Thanks for the replies everyone.  I think...to be safe...ill just do the taping without stretching my lips.  I'm pretty sure I heard that A&G stretch your soft tissue as they need during surgery so I don't feel comfortable doing this on my own.